Utah National Guard • Communities and counties can use study to synch development.

By Cimaron Neugebauer The Salt Lake Tribune

Published January 9, 2013 10:04 pm

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Bluffdale • With an 18-month study made public Wednesday, local communities now know exactly what developments the Utah National Guard has planned for Camp Williams in the future.

The 135-square-mile study area will help communities in Salt Lake and Utah counties synchronize their future developments around the military base.

"We will all get something out of it," said Eagle Mountain City Recorder Fionnuala B. Kofoed in response to questions from residents.

Information outlined in the study includes aircraft flight paths, so cities know where not to build high-rise buildings; maps of the areas with the highest levels of the noise from aircraft; and where there will be limited light pollution requirements.

"What we are presenting tonight is really nothing new," said Celeste Boccieri-Werner, director of planning for Matrix Design Group, which was in charge of the study. She said the study just documents the information that the Utah National Guard has publicized for several years.

About 30 residents from the neighboring communities showed up at the Utah National Guard Readiness Center auditorium on Wednesday night to learn of the study results.

The whole planning process for the Camp Williams Joint Land Use Study began in 2011 after the Utah National Guard applied for the study with the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA). Eagle Mountain agreed to spearhead the study and provide its own manpower for mapping and data research to get a federal grant; the study comes at no cost to taxpayers. Eagle Mountain partnered with Herriman, Bluffdale, Saratoga Springs, Lehi, Salt Lake and Utah counties.

Eagle Mountain resident Charlotte Ducos attended the meeting and has gone to the bulk of the public meetings since 2011 to learn the impact to her neighborhood.

"My main concern is a roadway that is on Eagle Mountain's transportation map that is going between Camp Williams property and the homes."

Ducos said the long-term Cedar Valley Freeway was planned to run adjacent to military property. Initially, it sounded like the city wanted to either get an easement from Camp Williams to build the road or wipe out homes, she said. Based on what she heard in the meeting, it doesn't look like the road will run through Camp Williams land.

"That is good news to me," Ducos said, adding that her new focus is to see if the city plans to take out homes or not have the road at all.

The study was finished in October.

Boccieri-Werner said the final step is for each involved city to have an ordinance passed and begin implementing development plans as early as a year from now.